Elephant Stone "I Am Blind" Video

Elephant Stone - I Am Blind

It's always great to see a bunch of smiling and familiar faces, impeccably shot, and it's even better if those faces are set to the music of a local band comprised of nice guys that you like. So, that's why the video above, directed by Patrick Andrew Boivin and Richmond Lam, for Elephant Stone is such a treat.

Richmond Lam is the tremendously talented master of light & shadow, who, if this video is any indication, appears to be moving into his Gregg Toland phase. Of all the photographers I can think of, he has a light humanistic touch that's completely unique to him. Up until now, I'd only seen it in his portraits, but it looks like he can move between the worlds of still and moving images with ease - his photography perfectly compliments the breezy and easy-going psychedelic charm of this song.

Shot in the confines of Korova bar Terroir (Montreal's favourite non-McGill campus Craigslist Missed Connections hotspot), the video's full of familiar faces. Outside of the band members - Richard White (who also plays in The Besnard Lakes), Bobby Fraser, Rishi Dhir, Robbie MacArthur, & Chris Wise - there are also cameos by Eve Thomas, Lorien Jones, cinematographer Bobby Shore (who shot Who Is KK Downey?, Peepers, Prom Wars, and is shooting Fubar 2), bartending nice-guy Cavan, Mikala Grant, jeweler Mercedes de la Rosa, Nicholas Robins (of Homosexual Cops), Maya Fuhr and many others.

Elephant Stone just finished recording an EP at Breakglass Studios, and they'll be joining the Brian Jonestown Massacre at the end of May/beginning of June for a number of dates. Rishi also hosts the Bollywood night at Casa every second Thursday of the month called Bombay the Hard Way!

Q&A: Matt Silver & Pat Kiely (Kidnapper Films, Who Is K.K. Downey?)

Screenwriters, comedians, and mensches Matt Silver and Pat Kiely took some time to answer my questions about their work on the Showcase Series' The Foundation. 2 episodes of the upcoming series will be screened as part of the Just For Laughs Festival, which opens on Thursday, July 16th and occasionally subjects Montrealers to more street theatre than even they can handle.

How did Mike Dowse approach you to work on this project?

We had known Mike for a little while through our mutual friend Paul Spence. He had seen a few of our sketch shows back in the day and so when it came time to put together a writer's room, he gave us a shout. The room included myself, Pat Kiely, Paul Spence, a hilarious dude named Gord Skillet, Mike Dowse, his producer Jennifer Wilson, and a seasoned T.O. writer named Jackie May. It's really the best way to write comedy in my opinion, because you just sit around all day trying to be the funniest guy or girl in the room. (full disclosure: I was never the funniest guy or girl in the room).

You and Pat play the Tak Brothers in The Foundation: can you describe a bit about your characters and their relation to the series?

Pat plays an ex-Olympian who loses his legs to a drunk driver, and I play his skeevy drug-addict brother. In it's simplest terms, Pat is recruited to wheelchair his way across Canada by the head of a charitable organization and I tag along as his manager and drug dealer. Neither of these brothers are the nicest or healthiest dudes, and essentially they figure out pretty quickly a way to cheat the system by attaching the wheelchair to the back of a tour bus.

Both of you, if IMDB is any indication, appear to have had a rather busy couple of years, even besides working on K.K. Downey. Besides your God-given talent, Protestant work ethic and mounds of charm (etc., etc.), do you find that there's anything community-wise that Montreal has, that has kept you steadily working?

We've been lucky enough to have a bunch of friends who, over the last few years, have gone into production with a bunch of stuff. The anglo production community is pretty tight in Montreal, so if someone decides to shoot something (usually on a limited budget) they know that there's a pool of cheap talent out there. We just happen to be the cheapest of the cheap talent.

When will the series debut on Showcase?

I'm not 100% sure when The Foundation will be on Showcase. I'm thinking sometime in Autumn but again I'm not totally sure about that.

Pat Kiely: The only thing I can add is that "The Foundation" premieres on Sunday nights, starting September 20th at 10pm (after Weeds and before Kenny vs. Spenny).

Are there any plans for anything from Kidnapper Films in the works?

Kidnapper is cooking a few things up. We're hard at work on the script for our next feature, ostensibly a Montreal period piece where three idiots fix a horse race. We're also putting the finishing touches on another script which is being produced by Mike Dowse (FUBAR, Pete Tong) and John Hazlett (Suburbanators, These Girls). Besides that...shit I think that's it.

And... WHERE IS YOUR SERIES?

Where indeed, my friend. Where indeed. I'll keep you posted on that one.

Matt Silver as Mark in the film One-Man Party. Directed and shot by Mark Slutsky for the 2008 Montreal 60 Second Film Festival. This year's edition will be taking place on September 9th through 11th at Sala Rossa.

Thanks for the shout-out, Pardon My Hindi!

More Square Quotes Episodes

Okay, Alexander, Martin, Ali and myself have been busy since I last posted here. We've got four whole more episodes, and pretty soon, we'll be producing a special episode for Osheaga. The Osheaga podcast you'll be able to get directly from their website, and will include interviews with musicians, artists and other people associated with the festival.

In the meantime, do some catching up with the last couple of episodes... I'll list them in reverse chronological order, or you can go to the main site at www.squarequotes.com or find us on iTunes.

Square Quotes, Episode 6: Bend It Like Beckett

Square Quotes is back with a vengeance, notorious and ever glorious! During our two week hiatus we shuffled off the chains of Suoni per il Popolo and now fly towards the sun like Icarus! This week's episode is packed with summer sounds, summer flicks, and Cancon controversy.

Jordan Robson-Cramer, contributing member of Montreal's Sunset Rubdown and Miracle Fortress visited us and played a song with Rory Seydel (also of Shapes and Sizes) - the newest member of Jordan's long-standing project Magic Weapon.

Tempting fate, we invited Darren Curtis and Matt Silver, two peanut-shelling funny-men partially responsible for Kidnapper Films' debut full-length Who is K.K. Downey? to talk with us. The film premieres in Canada later this week as part of the Fantasia Film Festival.

This episode's musical picks anticipate, welcome, and think about love: its complications, its great bounty. Delegation's Darlin' (I Think About You) appears on their landmark champagne-disco-funk album, 1979's Eau de Vie; ABS dug up Jermaine Jackson's Good for the Gander, which is an unreleased Motown gem produced by Norman Harrison and Ron Tyson; Steely Dan's Dirty Work speaks for itself; Johnny Moped's Darlin' (Let's Have Another Baby) gets straight up paternal; we all love Silver Apples' I Have Known Love (they may be popping up in our city sometime soon - shhh); and Magnum Force speaks to the mood of the moment in Girl, You're Too Cool.

Square Quotes Episode 5: Pansexual Digressions & Nocturnal Omissions

With a turnaround time that would daunt most college radio stations, but is par for the course in the big leagues with major players like Radio Congo, we came up with episode 5. A majestic palace of sophistry, loving communication, and dialogue. Our guests this week were Ken Vandermark, the acclaimed saxophonist whose name you might recognize from Powerhouse Sound and The Flying Luttenbachers; Amber Goodwyn, the publisher of Canada's, nay North America's best smut zine, Lickety Split; and finally, the beloved Claude Bernier, logistics master and jack of all trades with the Suoni per il Popolo festival, who came in to the studio to chat us up, and deliver exclusive Suoni sounds recorded over the course of the festival from Vic Chestnutt and The Sun Ra Arkestra, live at Sala Rossa.

This Episode's Songs...

Leon Ware Rockin' You Eternally, The Velvelettes Je Veux Crier (My Foolish Heart Keeps Hanging on a Memory), Di Melo A vida seus métodos diz calma, The Sun Ra Arkestra Excerpt (Live at Sala Rossa), Vic Chestnutt Excerpt (Live at Sala Rossa), Marcia Hines You Gotta Let Go, Sadina I Want That Boy

Square Quotes Episode 4: Too Much Too Late

Woah. Well, Square Quotes took our sweet, precious time delivering this, a snapshot of a week or so in the life of a gaggle of Montrealers... First, Sasha Kleinplatz, a Montreal dancer, choreographer and organizer who recently put on a dance event called Piss In the Pool at the dilapidated Bain St. Michel went head-to-head with ABS; after that, we spoke to Billy Mavreas, the garrulous and lovable mensch who runs the Monastiraki Curiosity Shop, and is also a cartoonist who's recently published a graphic novel called Inside Outside Overlap, published by Timeless Books. It's all about dream logic, the murk, and a recent experience at the Helen Pitt Gallery in Vancouver, BC, where he participated in their Workaday series; and finally, Jenny Craig, the hostess and curator of the monthly Greasy Goose salon series discussed the business of talking about things here in Montreal, and let us listen in as local cosmologist Mark Slutsky spoke about ESP. Music? Yep, music again - Art Ensemble of Chicago, Manfred Krug, Mavreas' The Fudge, Ben E. King, and The Soft Boys. All for you, by us.

Square Quotes Episode 3: The Sun (Ra) Also Rises

On episode three of Square Quotes we talk with Alex Moskos of electronic-jam-duo Thames / circuit-twisted pop trio the Unireverse. Afterward we enlist his help in channeling the spirit of afro-futurist jazz artist Sun Ra.

Then Jack Oatmon of the Montreal Mirror stops by to give us the lowdown on Ivan Smagghe's health issues and he manages to squeeze in an interview with Andy Butler of NYC's post-disco group Hercules & Love Affair.

Later on we check in with Phil Elverum, of Mt. Eerie, just before his appearance at the Suoni per il Popolo festival. We play some songs too, like "I Comma Zimba" by Abdullah, the militant Motown musician and "Moliendo Cafe" performed by twelve-piece Romanian brass band Fanfare Ciocărlia. We also get heavy with Pilooski, who channels the high priestess of soul Nina Simone.